An organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion shows employees they won’t shy away from giving all employees an equal opportunity to showcase what they can do, which helps reduce employee turnover rates.
Inclusion means making sure people feel at ease being themselves in the workplace, without compromising professionalism or etiquette; workers should feel they can express their authentic selves freely and safely.
1. Recruiting
Recently, many companies have increased their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), with research substantiating its benefits – including improved productivity, higher profits, greater resilience against crises or challenges, more innovation from teams with diverse employees who bring different cultural experiences and insights to the table, etc.
Step one of establishing a DEI culture involves recruiting the appropriate talent. This involves diversifying your hiring pool and giving all applicants equal chances to compete for available jobs, for instance by removing personal details like name and address from resumes before screening to prevent bias based on racial or ethnic identity. Furthermore, companies may rewrite job descriptions to be more inclusive as well as conduct blind resume reviews to ensure all candidates are evaluated solely based on qualifications rather than race gender or education level.
Companies often provide training programs designed to educate employees on how their social identities shape how they interact with others and reveal any implicit biases that might affect how they evaluate applications. Such training programs also often help employees become aware of any barriers facing workers from marginalized groups such as LGBT individuals, women or minorities; as well as provide mentorship for workers belonging to these categories and creating policies designed to promote equality and equity.
Younger workers expect companies to value them as individuals while also actively advocating for social justice issues; according to a Bentley University survey, 84% of Americans aged 18-29 believe promoting DEI is a corporate necessity.
Senior management must also demonstrate its commitment to diversity by setting an inclusive culture throughout their organization. For instance, they could create diverse shortlists of applicants when posting new roles, encouraging employees to apply by sharing company values and explaining its diversity efforts.
2. Training
Diversity training teaches employees to work effectively with colleagues of different cultures. It can help reduce prejudice and discrimination at work. Diversity training’s benefits include increased productivity, innovation, problem-solving abilities, increased employee morale and an inclusive work culture. Businesses that actively embrace diversity have an edge in the marketplace.
Every employee should participate in DEI training, but it’s particularly essential for those in leadership positions, since their actions have such an influence over others at work. Recognizing how social identity factors such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation religion and disability influence interactions or how one perceives certain types of challenges can be difficult; an DEI program must therefore help these people do just that.
Starting DEI training off right requires an interactive online learning platform. This platform can be tailored specifically for each team’s needs and provide a flexible learning environment that reinforces key behaviors. Plus, updates to reflect any modifications to company diversity and inclusion policies or procedures are easily made.
Effective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training programs focus on increasing social identity awareness as well as challenging structural inequalities such as discrimination, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, xenophobia and other forms of bigotry which may impede workplace productivity. They also aim to help participants recognize any unintended biases and discover strategies for combatting them.
Though many companies boast that diversity is a priority, many fail to create inclusive workplace environments. When people feel they can bring all aspects of themselves into work without fearing reprimand or reprisals from management, engagement increases substantially and more employees tend to remain with a company; research demonstrates that top-quartile companies in terms of ethnic diversity are 27 percent more profitable.
An effective diversity and inclusion training program should address all five categories of diversity: representation, accessibility, belonging and respect. Furthermore, DEI programs should address unconscious bias which is an inevitable part of everyday experience that may result in unfavorable judgments and decisions being made.
3. Performance
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) should be an integral component of every organization’s business strategy. DEI goals should be established and assessed in the same manner as other company initiatives like increasing profitability or customer satisfaction.
To assess your DEI efforts, begin by clearly defining each term and setting specific goals or metrics. This could involve making sure underrepresented groups are adequately represented on boards or leadership roles, changing internal language to be less biased and more inclusive, or eliminating pay disparities. Once your definition and goals are in place, track progress by measuring employee and customer engagement and satisfaction levels.
Staff satisfaction can be challenging to measure, but you can use benchmark measurements as an aid in identifying areas in need of improvement within your company. For instance, if employees feel their needs aren’t being met at work, ask them what causes discontentment before using that feedback as the foundation of a plan for change.
One way to promote workplace inclusivity is to recognize and observe cultural or religious holidays, being flexible during this period and giving employees time off when needed – something which you can achieve by setting meetings and calls at times convenient to most employees in your workforce.
Research by McKinsey & Company indicates that companies which emphasize diversity, equity and inclusion policies generally outperform those which don’t, as these organizations make an effort to bring diverse perspectives and experiences to their teams, which leads to more innovative solutions and ideas. Customers and job applicants also appreciate that DEI-focused businesses care for their people’s welfare – leading them to attract top talent more readily while simultaneously growing faster and becoming more profitable businesses.
4. Retention
As COVID-19 demonstrated, it’s more critical than ever that employees feel free to be themselves at work. This is especially important when new hires or those still adapting to workplace culture arrive – their wellbeing and job satisfaction depend upon it!
Diverse workforces bring different viewpoints to problem-solving and innovation, which allows companies to implement strategies which might never have crossed someone with more homogenous backgrounds’ minds.
DEI helps businesses create an inclusive workplace and increase employee retention. Adopting an equity-first approach to diversity can save businesses money through reduced turnover, training costs and lost productivity; additionally it supports business goals by offering customers more diverse product lines and increasing customer attraction and retention.
For optimal results, leadership buy-in is absolutely critical. That means all employees from the C-suite down must understand the significance of diversity and inclusion policies and practices that promote them as well as address structural barriers like racism, sexism and homophobia.
As part of your employees’ success in their roles, it is also essential that they receive all of the resources necessary. This may include offering language access and flexible scheduling as well as accommodating religious observances like Yom Kippur, Eid, Ramadan and Diwali. Furthermore, policies and procedures addressing gender identity, sexual orientation, age and family status should be put in place.
As part of your company’s commitment to equality and inclusion, it’s vital that you regularly survey your workforce in order to get an idea of their perception of your company’s commitment. A good way of doing this is with an employee engagement survey system which allows you to ask specific questions tailored towards your workforce and identify key issues – this way, you can determine your next steps toward making your company more inclusive while simultaneously improving communication and transparency, which in turn results in happier, more satisfied workers that increase the chance of attracting top talent to join.